Bank robbed on Near West Side

Police and federal agents are on the scene of a bank robbery this morning on the Near West Side.

Someone robbed the Washington Federal Bank, 1410 W. Taylor St., about 10 a.m., according to a Monroe District police lieutenant.

At 9:02 a.m. a tall, skinny man armed with a box cutter forced a worker into a back door of the bank while the staffer was arriving for the morning, FBI spokeswoman Cynthia Yates said.

"He rushed into the bank with the worker,"’ said Yates. "He held the employee at knifepoint and demanded cash and threatened harm if his demands were not met."

After the worker surrendered an undisclosed amount of cash, the robber fled on foot out the same door and then west, through an alley behind the bank, Yates said. The worker was not injured.

The suspect is described as a black man with a "skinny"’ build, who is about 6 feet 3 inches tall, she said. He was wearing a neoprene mask down to his nose, blue jeans and a blue hoodie sweatshirt with its hood up.